. >> welcome back, a little way from three weeks away from falling off that fiscal cliff. while the president says it can be avoided is it willing to compromise on the tax cuts for the rich? is a plunge inevitable or can we prevent it. >> mike: joining us from washington d.c., chris wallace. >> hey, guys. >> mike: chris, answer the question with 23 days left. what's going to happen? >> well, you know, i have to say, mike, that as time has gone on and as we've seen a distinct lack of progress i'm growing increasingly pessimistic, couple of weeks ago, you would say it's so crazy and they've got the to make a deal eventually and i would assume they'll reach a compromise to raise some revenue and cut some spending, reform some entitlements to avoid this bad situation which we're calling the fiscal cliff, when you have automatic tax increases and spending cuts, but as we, you know, the time goes, it's been three weeks since the election, i'm growing increasingly pessimistic. >> we're been talking about it on the show, chris, and brought up a couple of times that the president,